


Mushroom and Jinna Soup

by babsalone



Category: Bastion (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Game(s), Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:20:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28302957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babsalone/pseuds/babsalone
Summary: The Kid squeezed Zulf's shoulder and returned to his peeling. Zulf wished for sleep like every star there ever was, but it wouldn’t come. There was the fever, yes, but a question shifted beneath the surface and begged to be let out."Kid, tell me… how does a Cael man know how to make mushroom and jinna soup? I don't think I've met a Cael who knew what jinna even was."Zulf is sick, and the Kid helps; they have a conversation.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	Mushroom and Jinna Soup

**Author's Note:**

> sgg secret santa gift for tumblr user tealeafraven. hope you enjoy!

A heat prickled at Zulf’s skin and threatened to swallow him whole. In the dark of his tent, strange things swam before his eyes, blotches of darkness outlined in colors never before witnessed. How very strange. He tried to move his blanket, tried to feel the cool night air to dampen the fire that burned across him, but his arms simply wouldn't move. Any will he had was turned to droplets, leaving him immobilized, a river stopped up with a dam. He tried to open his mouth to call for help, but no sound came. Just a breath of dust, flittering into the night on bats' wings. The world around him swayed like the sea and he swayed with it, drifting in and out of sleep until the brightness of morning shot through the tent and brightened his eyes. 

“Zia,” Zulf finally managed to say, his voice a crackling croak. “I don't feel well.”

Zia groaned her awakeness and sat up. They shared a tent and each had a bedroll not far from the other. She shambled over to him and regarded him with bleary eyes.

“What's wrong?”

“I feel…” What does he feel? Something burning and sizzling, a fire sprouting into the wind. Hot, yes, and a lot of other things. But speaking anymore seemed too much, and the words fizzled in his throat. 

“Let me check your forehead.” Zia pressed her hand to Zulf's forehead, then quickly withdrew it. “You're burning up! Don't go anywhere, I'm getting Kid.”

Going anywhere seemed unlikely at best. Zulf closed his eyes and that same swaying motion rocked him back and forth, back and forth, until he was almost lulled to sleep. But the tent flap opened and the light burst in once more.

“Zulf? Zia said you got a fever. You feeling alright?”

“Oh, Kid,” Zulf sighed. “Everything is… swimming. It's so heavy.”

The Kid sighed. "Zia, grab some pillows. I'm takin' him to the kitchen."

He came over to Zulf and leaned over to lift him, then paused. "Can I lift you? Won't hurt you, promise."

Zulf had never once feared that the Kid would hurt him. But that's too much to say, and instead Zulf settled on a nod. The Kid slipped his arms beneath Zulf and picked him up with all gentleness a mother cat would her kitten.

"Gonna be alright, alright? I'll take care of you."

Zulf wanted to thank him, but words seemed too heavy. Instead he closed his eyes and listened to the steady beat of the Kid’s heart.  _ Ba bump, ba bump, ba bump _ . His heart must be larger than everyone else's-- there was so much to it, to him. It must be twice as large, just to hold it to bravery every day in worlds untouched by man and hold it in love every day on this little island they've made. What does Zulf’s heart sound like? Zia’s? Even Rucks’? What a strange thing the heart is.

The Kid carried Zulf down into the kitchen, a place of darkened coolness lit only by the dwindling fire in the oven. He laid Zulf on a pile of pillows put by Zia with a tenderness that made Zulf ache.

"Try an' get some sleep," the Kid said, before grabbing wood by the fire and feeding it into the barely burning flame. "Gonna work on some soup."

"What kind of soup?" Zulf asked, in a voice that mirrored the sway of his body. 

"Mushroom and Jinna. Used to make it for my mama."

"With green kepper?"

“‘Course. Can't have mushroom and jinna soup without the green kepper."

Mushroom and jinna soup was a soup made commonly in the Southeastern part of the Tazal Terminals, the poorest section of the whole area. Jinna was a starchy but relatively tasteless root, but cheap and absorbed the salty flavor of the clear broth well. Kepper was a thin and leathery pepper that grew in great bushes wherever given the chance, and ranged from the pleasant spice of the green kepper to the sweating sting of the black. 

"Do you have black keppers? I haven't… I don't remember the last time I had one."

"Think you're a little too sick for a black kepper," the Kid said. The fire in the stove burned brightly and prickled sweat across Zulf’s skin. "But once you're better, I got a few."

Zulf squirmed around in his blankets. He tried to move his arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but his body was too light to lift his heavy arm. "Kid," he said, with a voice steeped in more weakness than he cared to show, "I'm too warm. Please, move my blanket for me."

"Gotta sweat the fever out," the Kid said, and then disappeared out of Zulf's line of sight and deeper into the kitchen.

There was the clattering of pots and pans and a softly whistled song, something tinged with all the pain and love of nostalgia. Zulf watched the fire crackle and dance, the one point of brightness in the dim room. Sleep sauntered over and suggested closed eyes and a sweet peace, but the breaking heat that swelled beneath his eyes broke and sprang into a chill that shuddered his body in every place. Zulf curled as best he could, but that chill crackled into his every movement. 

"Kid," Zulf breathed. "I need… I'm so cold."

The Kid’s whistling stopped. He had been standing at the counter and peeling jinna, but placed it down at Zulf's words.

"Fever's breakin', that's a good sign," the Kid said. He crouched down next to Zulf. "Ya want me to move you closer to the fire?"

"Please."

The Kid picked Zulf up and held Zulf close to his body, cradling Zulf as if he was a baby bird that fell out of a nest. He kicked the pillow pile over towards the fire, then laid Zulf back on it.

"This better?"

Shivers still trickled through Zulf's body, but the heat unbroke his shattered bones. "Thank you," Zulf murmured.

The Kid squeezed Zulf's shoulder and returned to his peeling. Zulf wished for sleep like every star there ever was, but it wouldn’t come. There was the fever, yes, but a question shifted beneath the surface and begged to be let out.

"Kid, tell me… how does a Cael man know how to make mushroom and jinna soup? I don't think I've met a Cael who knew what jinna even was."

The Kid shrugged, that practiced rise and fall of his shoulders. "Mama taught me how. Made it for me when I was sick, then I made it for her when she was. Just that."

Zulf closed his eyes and tried to remain tethered to the world. There were other ways to learn information; the Kid was dear, but sometimes he needed to be backed into a corner. "The missionary lived in a room in an Acobian temple. We lived there, together, up until the end. There was a big black kepper bush next to it. But when I was still young…" Zulf took a breath to steady himself. There was so much energy lost in talking. "There were two girls who lived nearby. They challenged me to a black kepper eating contest."

The Kid snorted. “S’pose that didn't go too good."

Zulf managed a laugh, almost. "It was not my best idea. These girls were twins; Yomiko and Zereva. Lovely girls. They had white hair. It's rare, but some Ura have it. Just like yours."

The Kid stopped his peeling. "Don't gotta be Ura to have white hair."

Zulf tried to sit up but his body remained stone. The Kid was big, bulky, with that bronzy skin so common among Caels. But that white, white hair of his…

"Your mother was Ura, wasn't she?"

There was a tight silence, a thin red line, and something like fear washed over Zulf and stuck in the crevices. The Kid resumed peeling the jinna.

"…Daddy said he didn't want to raise no half-breed. Mama used to say I looked just like him. Looked like a Cael man but got that white Ura hair." The Kid shrugged, but there was a tension in the rise and fall of his shoulders. "S'pose you ain't the only one who knows huh?"

"I imagine Rucks must, at least. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Didn't see a point. Ain't no reason to bring it up." The Kid finished his peeling and started on cutting the jinna into strips, the rhythmic chop, chop, chop rocking Zulf back and forth. "Don't need anyone else to throw me away."

Zulf forced himself into a sitting position with a deep groan. " _ Kid _ ," he started, his whole world swaying, "my birth parents were Ura but I was raised more by the missionary than anyone else. I live both as Cael and Ura; I'm as much Cael as you are and as much Ura as you are. Blood will never stop us from loving you."

The Kid stopped his chopping and set down his knife. He sorted his words and moved them around in his mouth. Zulf fought the exhaustion of sitting up but soon collapsed back into the pillows. The world swam as it had, as if it had always done so and Zulf was just now realizing it did.

"... Think I should tell the others?" the Kid finally said, a carefulness to his words, as if he was testing a step on an icy lake to see if the ice would hold. 

"You don't have to tell anyone anything you don't want to," Zulf responded, his eyes fluttering open and shut, sleep gliding over him and calling his name. "Just… we'll always love you, every part of you, and no heritage can ever change that."

"...Thanks, Zulf," the Kid said, and there was a weightlessness in his voice that Zulf had rarely heard. How much the Kid carried on those big shoulders of his.

But sleep was too close and the swimming works rocked him to sleep. This did not go unnoticed; 

"Get some sleep. I'll wake you up when the soup's done."

"Thank you, Kid," Zulf murmured. "And… do you have Okimoki powder? I want it extra salty." A pause. "Please."

The Kid laughed. "Extra salty, just for you."

The Kid said more, but it was lost to Zulf. He floated away to sleep, and found a pleasantness there he had long forgot.

_ Mushroom and Jinna Soup _

_ Serves 4 _

_ 1 Lbs Jinna Root _

_ 6 Bolle Mushrooms, destemmed _

_ 2 Green Keppers, with seeds _

_ 2-4 Tbs Okimoki Powder _

_ 4 Cups of Water _

_ Peel Jinna and chop into matchsticks. Destem Bolle Mushrooms and slice into strips. Half and slice Green Keppers into crescents, keeping the seeds. Boil water and Okimoki Powder until Okimoki is dissolved. Add Jinna, then cook until half-soft. Add Bolle Mushrooms and Green Keppers and cook until soft. Serve hot. _


End file.
